Yong County Cotton Mill!
As Ye Lingyun stood once again before the gates of the cotton mill, her feelings were extremely mixed.
Although more than 20 years had passed, the factory hadn’t changed much from how she remembered it.
Especially this gate—aside from looking a bit dilapidated, it was almost exactly the same as when she had left.
When it came to this cotton mill, Ye Lingyun felt a bit more hatred than anything else.
Yes, hatred!
Although she had spent less than eight months at this factory in total, it had left her with wounds that would take a lifetime to heal.
She remembered that she had just turned twenty when she first came to this factory. At the time, the Jiang family had fallen on hard times due to certain circumstances, and most members of both families were implicated. Even she, as a daughter-in-law, was forced to be “sent down” to Yong County, a remote little county, where she became an ordinary female worker at this cotton mill.
To prevent others from discovering she was the daughter of the Ye family and the daughter-in-law of the Jiang family, her personnel file had been tampered with. Ye Lingyun became Ye Lingwan, and her once spotless family background was branded with certain labels.
And it was precisely these specific labels that sowed the seeds of her later tragic life at the cotton mill!
Due to her identity, she faced ostracism from the very first day she entered the factory. The factory director personally criticized her in front of thousands of workers and officials, completely humiliating her.
And that was just the beginning. During her time at the cotton mill, she had to endure severe morning sickness while performing grueling physical labor.
Because she was classified as a “re-educated through labor” individual, she was assigned the dirtiest and most exhausting tasks, and most days she worked over ten hours.
Compounded by poor meals, she continued to lose weight despite being pregnant.
As if that weren’t enough, she had to endure the gossip and whispers of others in her spare time; life during that period made her experience the full spectrum of human kindness and cruelty.
It was precisely this prolonged, high-intensity labor that left her body so weakened that she fell while working, causing her to give birth prematurely and providing those demons with the opportunity to switch the babies.
The ordeal surrounding her child tormented her for over twenty years, nearly driving her to the brink of a mental breakdown.
It could be said that the root of all this misfortune is inextricably linked to the cotton mill and the people there.
However, she did not come here today to seek revenge, but to find someone.
Although her memories of life at the cotton mill were mostly painful, there were some people who always made her feel warmth—people she will be grateful to for the rest of her life.
During her most difficult and helpless moments, there were always a few sisters who helped and cared for her.
Otherwise, given her physical condition at the time, she would never have made it through the delivery!
Back then, she suffered from severe depression and had long since lost hope in life, so she hadn’t given those sisters much thought.
But now that her daughter had returned and she had recovered from her illness, she remembered those sisters who had helped her…
Standing by the car, Li Yi looked at his mother-in-law’s face, which was filled with mixed emotions, and knew her heart must be a whirlwind of feelings.
Without hesitation, he stepped forward and said, “Mom, let’s go inside!”
Ye Lingyun nodded and said, “Okay!”
Then, the four of them—Li Yi, Zhang Ziqiang, Jiang Xue, and Ye Lingyun—walked straight toward the main gate of the Yong County Cotton Mill, leaving Yang Zhiwen outside to watch the car.
As for Zhang Feng, Li Yi had left her at the guesthouse to look after the two young girls!
As soon as they reached the main gate, a middle-aged man emerged from the guardhouse and addressed them: “Comrades, who are you, and what are you doing here at our factory?”
Perhaps because he noticed that Li Yi and the others were dressed rather unusually, and there was a jeep parked nearby, the middle-aged man’s attitude was fairly polite.
Zhang Ziqiang stepped forward, produced a small red booklet, and said directly, “Notify your factory director immediately and tell him we’re here to see him!”
The middle-aged security guard was startled the moment he saw the red booklet in Zhang Ziqiang’s hand. Although he didn’t know what it represented, the gold-embossed characters on the red background gave off an air of authority that commanded respect.
He swallowed hard and hurriedly said, “Comrades… please wait a moment. I’ll call the factory office right away!”
With that, the security guard hurried back to the guardhouse.
After a brief, mumbled report, the middle-aged man came back out and said to Zhang Ziqiang with some trepidation, “Um… I just called the factory office, and the plant manager said he’ll be right over!”
“By the way, would you like to come inside and warm your hands? It’s pretty cold out here…”
Before the middle-aged man could finish speaking, Li Yi immediately replied, “We won’t go inside, but I have something I’d like to ask you about. Would that be okay?”
“Of course it’s convenient—what’s there to be inconvenient about? Comrade, just ask whatever you want!”
Li Yi replied immediately, “To be honest, my mother used to work at your company. I came here today hoping to see an old friend from back then. I was wondering if Qiao Chunfang from Workshop 3 is still with the company?”
“We do have someone named Qiao Chunfang here at the factory, but she isn’t a regular employee—she’s the factory’s cashier. I’m not sure if she’s the person you’re looking for!”
At that moment, Ye Lingyun chimed in, “The Qiao Chunfang I’m looking for is very tall and slender, and she’s quite beautiful. Oh, and she has a beauty mark between her eyebrows!”
The middle-aged security guard quickly replied, “That matches the description perfectly—Cashier Qiao does have a mole between her eyebrows!”
Hearing this, Ye Lingyun’s face lit up with joy, and she felt a surge of excitement.
“Do you know a woman named Liu Juanjuan? Is she still working at the factory?”
“Liu Juanjuan? I really don’t recall her…”
Just then, Zhang Ziqiang suddenly tugged at Li Yi’s sleeve, gesturing for him to look ahead.
Li Yi looked up and saw seven or eight people walking toward them on the road ahead. Among them were a few familiar faces—people he’d met during his last visit.
Soon they reached the entrance, and a man in his fifties addressed Li Yi and his group: “My name is Yang Junfeng, and I’m the director of our cotton mill. May I ask where you comrades are from, and what brings you to our mill?”
Li Yi looked at the unfamiliar Director Yang standing before him and replied immediately, “Hello, Director Yang. My name is Li Yi. I’m from Beijing. I’m here mainly to accompany my mother to visit some of her old friends!”
“May I ask, who is your mother…?”
“My mother-in-law used to work at your factory when she was younger!” Li Yi replied.
Director Yang asked right away, “May I ask your mother-in-law’s name, when she worked at our factory, and who exactly you’re looking for?”
Ye Lingyun immediately stepped in to answer, “My name is Ye Lingwan. I used to work in Workshop 3. There are two people we’re looking for!”
“One is your factory’s cashier, Qiao Chunfang, and the other is Liu Juanjuan. We’ll need Director Yang’s help to check which workshop she was in!”
However, no sooner had Li Yi finished speaking than everyone, including Yang Junfeng, paled. The look in their eyes as they gazed at Ye Lingyun was one of deep apprehension.
“You… your name really is Ye Lingwan?”
Factory Director Yang’s expression was tense as he spoke, his voice trembling slightly.
“I am Ye Lingwan. Is there something wrong with that?” Ye Lingyun said earnestly.
The factory leaders’ reaction left Li Yi and the others completely baffled; they had no idea what was going on or why the leaders were reacting this way.
“No… there’s nothing wrong. This isn’t the place to talk. Please come to our factory office and have a seat. We can discuss whatever it is inside, all right?” Factory Director Yang said respectfully.
“Sounds good!”
Then, filled with deep confusion, Li Yi and the others, accompanied by Director Yang and his staff, walked toward the factory’s interior…
………